Chapter 215: Home Sweet Home
Moana
Just as the doctor promised, I was prescribed some medicine for the baby and for sleep and then I was sent home later that day once my bloodwork and vitals all came back within a normal range. The entire way home, Edrick didn’t let go of my hand. Every time I glanced over at him, it seemed as though he was looking at me, and that was comforting to me. The memory of our time spent together in my bed before I was taken to the police station stayed in my mind, which was a welcome distraction from everything else. It felt as though there was no longer a wall between us, and I hoped that everything would smooth itself out from there.
When we arrived back at the penthouse, Ella came running as soon as the elevator doors opened and practically flew into my arms.
“Moana!” she cried, sobbing into my chest. “I thought you were never gonna come home!”
“It’s okay, baby,” I cooed as I stroked her hair and held her tightly and blinked back my own tears. “I’m home now.” I could only imagine the sort of distress that Ella was under the entire time I was at the hospital. After learning about what happened at the warehouse, I imagined that the poor little girl feared the worst. Although Edrick planned to find me a therapist, I just hoped more than anything that Ella could get some counseling, too. Hopefully, at the very least, I thought that this ordeal was the last bit of stress we would need to deal with as a little family. Although with my dream about Michael still lingering at the back of my mind, I wasn’t so sure that that would be the case.
As I held the crying Ella in my arms and Edrick silently rubbed my back, I suddenly looked up to see Selina standing in the doorway with tears in her eyes. Her face looked puffy, like she had been crying nonstop for days. Even just seeing her like that made me want to cry.
Without a word, she walked up to me and pulled me in for a tight hug. The feeling of the old housekeeper’s arms around me was a much needed comfort, like an embrace from a mother. When we finally pulled away, I couldn’t help but smile.
“Let’s get you to bed,” Selina said, guiding me to my room before I could protest. I glanced over my shoulder at Edrick one last time, who just watched me with a worried expression on his face before he was out of sight. Selina led me to my room and laid me down, although I wasn’t all that tired.
“If you need anything, just let me know,” she said, patting my hand gently with a weak smile. “I’ll be here for you all day.”
Knowing that the old housekeeper would take good care of me made me smile. I was just glad to be home, in a safe environment. Maybe now I would feel better about everything and wouldn’t have another flashback.
That afternoon, Edrick had to leave to go to work since he had apparently spent all of his time at the hospital. I thought that he should stay home and rest along with me, but he insisted on leaving; and part of me felt as though he secretly felt like he needed to work in order to regain a sense of normalcy. I just hoped that his exhaustion wouldn’t hit him too hard, and I gave the Alpha billionaire stern orders to have the driver take him to and from work, which he thankfully obliged.
Ella, the two maids, and Selina floated in and out of my room for a while to check on me or keep me company, but for the most part I was left alone so that I could rest. I wasn’t tired, though, so I spent my afternoon drawing in my sketchbook and reading while wistfully glancing out the window and wishing that I could be in my classroom instead. At the very least, I did have my wolf to keep me company, although she was exhausted from protecting me during those few days and was not a constant source of conversation.
It must have been around two or three o’clock in the afternoon when I was drawing in my sketchbook. I was working on a nature sketch and listening to classical music, and everything felt fine. That was why whatever happened next came as so much of a surprise.
One moment, I was smiling to myself as I drew. I was comfortably propped up in bed with the promise of a cup of tea and a sandwich for lunch on its way from Selina. My window was wide open, allowing the cool autumn breeze and the sounds of the city to float in. Everything felt comfortable, warm, and safe.
The next moment, however, everything changed. It didn’t feel as though any time passed at all; it was as though I was just sitting there, then I blinked and everything was different.
I was no longer in my bed. I opened my eyes to find that I was standing in the middle of my room, although that wasn’t the most alarming thing. What was most unsettling, and what made me clap my hand over my mouth in shock, was the fact that I had somehow scribbled dozens upon dozens of pictures that were now scattered all around my bedroom. The floor was covered in pieces of paper ripped from my sketchbook. The lines on the pages were dark and heavy, and I had pushed down so hard on some of them that I had bored holes straight through the paper.
All of the images depicted the most vile, violent scenes that I could have possibly imagined. Blood, gore, death… It was like a battle had been fought in my bedroom, and the evidence was on paper. I gasped as I looked around, but that gasp turned into an outright sob when I padded across my room to find that a particular sketch of Edrick and Ella at the theme park on the ferris wheel had been completely scribbled over and destroyed. I fell to my knees and sobbed again as I picked up the paper with shaking hands. I nearly shrieked when I saw that what I had covered my original sketch with was a dark, heavy, scribbled image of the knife from my dream about Michael.
What had happened? I didn’t remember doing any of this… I just blinked; one moment I was in my bed and comfortable, and then the next moment I was here with this horrific mess all around me. I didn’t have a flashback or anything of the sort; at least, I didn’t remember having one.
Suddenly, I heard the door creak. I jumped to my feet in an attempt to slam it shut so no one would see, but it was too late. Selian was already standing in the doorway with a tray of food in her hands.
“We didn’t have mayonnaise, so I hope you don’t mind—” she began, but her voice faltered as she saw the mess in my room. The old housekeeper froze, her eyes widening as she looked around. “Moana… What happened?”
I didn’t know what to say. All either of us could do was stand there, frozen to our spots, and stare at each other in complete and utter shock.
